2 dead, 6 hurt in Cotabato blast

KORONADAL CITY—A bus passenger who suffered a heart attack added to the casualties of the explosion that killed a fruit vendor and injured six others in Tulunan, Cotabato province, on Wednesday noon, police and local officials said.

Tulunan Mayor Reuel Limbungan said the passenger, who has yet to be identified, died of a heart attack when the homemade bomb exploded in an abandoned ticket booth in Barangay Sibsib where they were supposed to alight.

Homemade bomb

Police believed that the homemade bomb was planted in the booth, an area where buses unloaded or picked up passengers in the town.

Police Maj. Jun Napat, Tulunan police chief, said the bomb exploded as soon as the Yellow Bus Line (YBL) bus arrived at 12:30 p.m.

Napat identified the fruit vendor killed in the blast as Gina Paunon, 53, a resident of Cajelo village. She was one of three persons taken to Sorilla Medical Hospital, some 50 meters away from the blast site.

“This incident is a blow to the security and peace of our province. But like all the trials we’ve been through, let’s rise together [to overcome it],” said Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco.

The YBL bus had shrapnel marks on its side and its front while its rear tires were deflated.

Police said the bus company had been receiving extortion demand from unidentified men who threatened to set off bombs if their messages were ignored. Cezario Joel Espejo, regional director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, said his office would extend burial and medical assistance to the blast victims’ families. —REPORTS FROM JEOFFREY MAITEM AND EDWIN FERNANDEZ